The Art of War and the War of Art

1 / 5Show Caption +Hide Caption –A General's View: General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, accompanied by Gen. Omar N. Bradley, and Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., inspect art treasures stolen by Germans and hidden in salt mine in Germany. United States Army Signal Corps Image #204516, National Archives War & Conflict Book #: 1099. (Photo Credit: USAMHI)VIEW ORIGINAL2 / 5Show Caption +Hide Caption –Bavarian Mission: At Schloss Neuschwanstein in southern Bavaria, Captain James Rorimer, who later would become the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, supervises the safeguarding of art stolen from French Jews and stored during the war at the castle (April-May, 1945). United States Army Signal Corps Image. (Photo Credit: USAMHI)VIEW ORIGINAL3 / 5Show Caption +Hide Caption –Inspection: From left to right: Daniel Knight of Powersville, Missouri; Samuel Rosenbaum of Patterson, New Jersey and Frederic R Pleasents of Mont Clair ,New Jersey; War Department civilians for OMGB (U.S. Office of Military Government, Bavaria), who are all members of the staff of the Fine Arts and Monuments collecting point, are shown inspecting art works being prepared for shipment to rightful owners. The men have supervised the collection, packing and return of millions of dollars with of art looted by the Nazis from occupied countries. United States Army Signal Corps Image # 273877. WWII Signal Corps Collection, United States Army Military History Institute. (Photo Credit: USAMHI)VIEW ORIGINAL4 / 5Show Caption +Hide Caption –A Fallen House of God: Catholic priests assess the damage to their church in Italy. WWII Signal Corps Collection, United States Army Military History Institute. (Photo Credit: USAMHI)VIEW ORIGINAL5 / 5Show Caption +Hide Caption –"...to preserve our civilization.": Days before the D-Day invasions on May 26, 1944 General Eisenhower issued an order outlining his instructions for the protection of historic monuments in war areas.
Full Text of Order:
1. Shortly we will be fighting our way across the Continent of Europe in battles designed to preserve our civilization. Inevitably, in the path of our advance will be found historical monuments and cultural centers which symbolize to the world all that we are fighting to preserve.
2. It is the responsibility of every commander to protect and respect these symbols whenever possible.
3. In some circumstances the success of the military operations may be prejudiced in our reluctance to destroy these revered objects. Then, as at Cassino, where the enemy relied on our emotional attachment to shield his defense, the lives of our men are paramount. So, where military necessity dictates, commanders may order the required action even though it involves destruction of some honored site.
4. But there are many circumstances in which damage and destruction are not necessary and cannot be justified. In such cases, through the exercise of restraint and discipline, commanders will preserve centers and objects of historical and cultural significance. Civil Affairs Staffs at higher echelons will advise commanders of the locations of historical monuments of this type, both in advance of the front lines and in occupied areas. This information, together with the necessary instructions, will be passed down through command channels to all echelons.
(signed)
Dwight D. Eisenhower
General, U.S. Army.
(Photo Credit: USAMHI)VIEW ORIGINAL

As Hitler's Army rolled through Europe and the Soviet Union laying a path of unparalleled destruction, the casualties were staggering. A silent victim of the war was the art work and cultural treasures of the lands Hitler conquered. Motivated by greed and hubris, the Nazi art gathering agencies far surpassed anything previously attempted and violated the 1907 Hague Convention. The looting was systematic, calculated, premeditated, and devastating.
To retrieve and return cultural artifacts and materials the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) Section was established under the Civil Affairs and Military Government Divisions of the Allied Armies. On June 23, 1943 President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the formation of the "American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas," also known as "The Roberts Commission," named after its chairman, Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts. The commission's main purpose was to help the U.S. Army and Armed Forces protect cultural works in Allied occupied areas.

In early 1943, a group known as the American Council of Learned Societies created a committee to address the issue of protecting Europe's art and cultural treasures to include: library collections, museum artifacts, scientific collections, archaeological material, religious objects, musical instruments and architectural fragments. They identified civilian experts: art historians, museum curators, artists, architects and archaeologists who could liaise with the military. They were among the many scholarly and academic groups that lobbied government officials to address the massive theft and destruction of cultural items in Europe.

Through persistent lobbying the members of the museum establishment were able to convince FDR and the Army that their presence was needed in the field. The result was the first appearance of art-specialist officers in war time. Approximately 400 specialists were referred to as "monuments officers" and were assigned to each Army Group. These officers were leaders in the field of art and museums, curators, and subject matter experts who volunteered and joined in order to save these endangered treasures.

Support for these officers came from the highest command within the U.S. Army. General Dwight D. Eisenhower told his commanders just before D-Day that "inevitably, in the path of our advance will be found historical monuments and cultural centers which symbolize to the world all that we are fighting to preserve," and he ordered his commanders to safeguard those treasures. This initiative demonstrated an enlightened attitude, as Eisenhower believed that the good name of the Army depended a great deal on the respect which it showed to the cultural heritage of the world.

After the fall of the Third Reich, MFAA officers undertook the daunting task of finding lost art. The enemy had scattered caches across Europe for safekeeping in more than a thousand secret locations in Germany alone. Locations included deep underground in salt mines and caves as well as in tunnels and castles. The MFAA officers' primary duty and responsibility was to house, secure, sort, protect, and restitute the vast quantities of art and cultural objects that they found. They set up collection points all over Germany, including Munich and Wiesbaden, and began the tedious process of repatriating over five million items, a massive undertaking that took until 1951 to complete. Eventually officers of the MFAA identified 1400 repositories containing over 15 million items. It was not long before the amount of art in these collection points soon rivaled the collections of the greatest museums in the world.

After the war, many of these monuments officers often referred to as the "Venus Fixers" or "Monuments Men," would become leaders of the most prominent museums in the United States. Almost every major American museum had one or more employees who served during World War II as an MFAA officer. Compared to the task at hand, their numbers were few, and while the program was an untested concept, the monuments officers utilized their limited resources to accomplish their job. While their story is beginning to be told, they remain some of the many unsung heroes of World War II. Their work to recover and preserve millions of plundered treasures has enabled past, present, and future generations to enjoy the many irreplaceable cultural treasures of Europe.